Learning Institute celebrates a decade of excellence in education

By Jasmin Gow, Intern, Communications and Public Affairs

Education has been an integral part of SickKids since the beginning. The former School of Nursing was founded in 1886, the first hospital schoolroom opened in 1892 and medical students at the University of Toronto began training at the hospital as part of their education in 1894.

The Learning Institute (LI) continues to keep this tradition of learning alive, over a century later.

Founded in 2007, the LI was created to bring patient, family, staff and professional education initiatives together under one umbrella. Today, the LI will celebrate its 10-year anniversary at the annual Celebrating Education Showcase. The event, open to staff and the public, will feature interactive booths from education programs and projects at SickKids.

From behind-the-scenes staff involved with iLearn, to front-line learning in simulation labs, to health education resources like AboutKidsHealth - every innovative learning opportunity for staff and families have a significant impact.

“We continuously emphasize and raise the bar of knowledge translation,” says Pam Hubley, Vice-President of Education and Academic Practice. “Applying new knowledge is important to influence medical practice and ensure we're constantly keeping up to date with how we provide the very best care to children and families.”

The future is bright for the LI. The team is working on the implementation of the new state-of-the-art learning management system, to be released in January 2018. This cloud-based technology will feature interactive and dynamic learning activities to support teams across the organization.

The Institute is also improving patient and family education with new programs and simulation spaces. The goal is to help families learn new, personalized techniques to care for their child at home, such as managing a child’s gastrostomy tube (G-tube), in a safe space where they can provide feedback.

“We really want to be known internally and externally for our advanced capabilities in teaching and learning and to be able to share that not only with the communities here at SickKids, but with all of our educational partners around the world,” says Pam.

As the focal point for education at SickKids, the LI has made significant strides over the past decade. In the past year alone, the Institute counts 19.8 million AboutKidsHealth website visits, 450 online modules available to staff and more than 77,000 learning activities completed by staff and guests.

Continuing to strive for excellence and innovate new ways to learn will allow SickKids to even further improve child health, for many decades to come.

A demo of the simulation centre attended by the former Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, the Honourable John Milloy. The demo was part of a tour provided by the first Chief of Education, Dr. Susan Tallett at the launch celebrations.

Drop by the Celebrating Education Showcase on September 19 from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Garden Patio and Garden Terrace in the SickKids Atrium to learn more about education and learning opportunities at SickKids.